Imaging apparatus and computer readable recording medium

ABSTRACT

Once an imaging mode is set, an imaging apparatus displays a through image with a tracking frame on the predetermined position. If a shutter button is pressed halfway, an object that is overlapped by the tracking frame is recognized as a main subject that a user wants to capture. Until the shutter button is fully pressed or until the halfway-press is released, it is detected where the recognized subject is in frame image data that is captured in sequence, and the tracking frame is displayed based on the detected position. If the halfway press of the shutter button is released before the shutter button is fully pressed, the tracking frame is displayed on the predetermined position. Then if the shutter button is pressed halfway once again, the process is repeated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/770,114, filed Jun.28, 2007, which is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-181470,filed Jun. 30, 2006, the entire contents of both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a computerreadable recording medium storing a computer program for operating animaging apparatus, including, in particular, a moving picture capturingmeans for capturing a moving picture of a subject using an imagecapturing device and a shutter button that is able to be pressed bothhalfway and fully, wherein the imaging apparatus tracks a moving subjectand recognizes a position of the subject.

2. Description of the Related Art

The following technology is known as a technology for tracking a subjectdynamically in an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera. In thistechnology, if a moving target subject overlaps the zooming frame whencapturing a moving image, the zooming frame is controlled to track themoving target subject, and the moving image data within the zoomingframe is stored.

This technology makes it possible to have the zooming frame track themoving target subject. However, the case in which the moving targetsubject goes out of the frame is unexpected. When the moving targetsubject goes out of the frame, the zooming frame is located on the edgeof the image. Therefore, even if a user slightly changes the cameraangle so that the zooming frame is set to the target subject, the targetsubject will go out of the frame again in a moment. Meanwhile, once thetracking has started, the user can not change the tracking targetwithout stopping recording mode. Thus, this known technology hasproblems in usability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, an imaging apparatus includes:moving picture capturing means for capturing a moving picture of asubject using an image capturing device; first display controlling meansfor displaying frame data captured in sequence by the moving picturecapturing means on a display and for displaying a remarkable point on apredetermined position of the displayed frame data; a shutter buttonthat is adapted to be pressed both halfway and fully; second displaycontrolling means for, when the shutter button is pressed halfway,updating a display position of the remarkable point to a position of thesubject so as to track the subject with the remarkable point; and thirddisplay controlling means for resetting the display position of theremarkable point to the predetermined position when the halfway-press ofthe shutter button is released after the shutter button is pressedhalfway.

According to the present invention, the remarkable point may be aremarkable area.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a computer readablerecording medium stores a computer program, which is executable by acomputer to cause the computer to operate an imaging apparatus, whereinthe imaging apparatus includes moving picture capturing means forcapturing a moving picture of a subject using an image capturing deviceand a shutter button that is adapted to be pressed both halfway andfully. The computer program causes the computer to execute functionsincluding: displaying frame data captured in sequence by the movingpicture capturing means on a display and displaying a remarkable pointon a predetermined position of the displayed frame data; updating adisplay position of the remarkable point to a position of the subject soas to track the subject with the remarkable point when the shutterbutton is pressed halfway; and resetting the display position of theremarkable point when the halfway-press of the shutter button isreleased after the shutter button is pressed halfway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of an imagingapparatus according to the invention, and together with the detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments given below serve to explainthe principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a digital camera as one embodiment ofthis invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining operation of a digital camera ofthis embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a tracking frame and a trimming framedisplayed by the image display block.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a tracking frame and a trimming framedisplayed by the image display block.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a tracking frame and a trimming framedisplayed by the image display block.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Now, an embodiment of the invention will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings using an example in which animaging apparatus of this invention is applied to a digital camera.

A. The Structure of the Digital Camera

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram of the digital camera 1, whichrealizes one embodiment of an imaging apparatus of this invention. Thedigital camera 1 includes a lens unit 2, a lens driving block 3, anaperture 4, a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) 5, a driver 6, a TimingGenerator (TG) 7, a sampling converter 8, an image signal generator 9, aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) 10, a key input block 11, a memory 12, aDynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) 13, a flash memory 14, an imagedisplay block 15, and a bus 16.

The lens unit 2 includes a focus lens group 2 a, and a zoom lens 2 b.The lens driving block 3 is connected to the lens unit 2. The lensdriving block 3 includes a focus motor which drives the focus lens group2 a along the optical axis of the lens, a zoom motor which drives thezoom lens 2 b along the optical axis of the lens, and a focus motordriver and a zoom motor driver which drive the focus motor and the zoommotor respectively.

The aperture 4 includes a driving circuit, which drives the aperture 4by a control signal sent from the CPU 10. The aperture 4 is a mechanismwhich controls the amount of light entering through the lens unit 2.

The CCD 5, which is driven by the driver 6, outputs a video signal tothe sampling converter 8, by executing photoelectric conversion withrespect to the intensity of light for each RGB color of the targetsubject in a constant period. The operating timing of the verticaldriver 6 and the sampling converter 8 are controlled by the CPU 10 viathe TG 7. Meanwhile, the CCD 5 has Bayer Pattern Color Filter and afunction as an electronic shutter. The shutter speed of the electronicshutter is controlled by the CPU 10 via the driver 6 and the TG 7.

The sampling converter 8 is connected to the TG 7 and includes aCorrelated Double Sampling (CDS) Circuit, which executes CorrelatedDouble Sampling on the imaging signal outputted from the CCD 5 andstores the result, an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) Circuit, whichexecutes Automatic Gain Control on the imaging signal after thesampling, an A/D Converter, which changes the analog imaging signalafter the Automatic Gain Control into a digital signal. The imagingsignal outputted from the CCD 5 is sent to the image signal generator 9as a digital signal via the sampling converter 8.

The image signal generator 9 executes gamma correction, a white balanceprocess and other processes on the imaging signal sent from the samplingconverter 8 and generates a luminance/chrominance signal (YUV data). Theimage data of the generated luminance/chrominance signal is sent to CPU10. In other words, the image signal generator 9 executes imageprocessing on the image data outputted from the CCD 5.

The CPU 10 executes compression/decompression processing (for examplethe compression/decompression processing of JPEG/MPEG format) for theimage data sent from the image signal generator 9, Auto Focus (AF)processing, and imaging processing. The CPU 10 is a one-chipmicrocomputer which controls each part of the digital camera 1 and hasfunctions of image-recognition processing for the main target subject,position detection processing for a main target subject and displayprocessing for a tracking frame and a trimming frame.

The key input block 11 includes several operation keys such as a shutterbutton that can be pressed halfway (“halfway-press”) and fully (“fullpress”), a mode select key, a menu key, an arrow key, a SET key andother keys, and outputs a manipulation signal in accordance with auser's key operation to the CPU 10. The memory 12 stores a controlprogram which is needed for the CPU 10 to control each part, as well asnecessary data, and the CPU 10 works in accordance with the program.

The DRAM 13 is used as a buffer memory which temporarily stores theimage data, which is sent from the CPU 10 after capturing by the CCD 5.The DRAM 13 is also used as a working memory of the CPU 10. The flashmemory 14 is a recording medium which stores compressed image data.

The image display block 15 includes a color LCD and a driving circuitfor the LCD. The image display block 15 displays a target subjectcaptured by CCD 5 as a through image in an imaging standby mode, and theimage display block 15 displays a recorded image which is read out fromthe flash memory 14 and decompressed in a recorded image reproducingmode.

B. The Operation of the Digital Camera

The operation of the digital camera 1 in this embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2.

Once the imaging mode is set by the user's operation of the mode selectkey in the key input block 11, the CPU 10 starts a through imagedisplaying process. That is, the CPU 10 starts a process in which: theCCD 5 captures the target subject at a predetermined frame rate, the CPU10 makes the buffer memory (the DRAM 13) store frame image data ofluminance and color-difference signal which is captured in sequence bythe CCD 5 and processed by the image signal generator 9, and the CPU 10displays the sequentially stored image data using the image displayblock 15 (Step S1). At that time the CPU 10 displays the tracking frame21 (Observed Position) at a predetermined position of the image displayblock 15 (here, it is assumed that the predetermined position is thecenter position) based on predetermined position information which isstored in the memory 12.

Then the CPU 10 judges whether the shutter button is pressed halfway ornot (Step S2). The judgment depends on whether or not an operationsignal corresponding to the halfway-press of the shutter button is sentfrom the key input block 11. According to this embodiment, the trackingframe tracks the main subject if a user moves the digital camera so thatthe main subject, which the user wants to capture, overlaps the trackingframe 21, and presses the shutter button halfway when the tracking frame21 overlaps the main subject.

If the CPU 10 judges that the shutter button isn't pressed halfway instep S2, it remains in step S2 until the shutter button is pressedhalfway. If the CPU 10 judges that the shutter button is pressedhalfway, the CPU 10 displays the trimming frame 22 based on the currentdisplay position of the tracking frame (the same as the predeterminedposition at first) (Step S3). In other words, the position of thetracking frame corresponds to the trimming position and therefore thetrimming frame is displayed so that the tracking frame is in the centerof the trimming frame. Meanwhile, the size of trimming (the size of thetrimming frame) is determined previously here, however, it is possibleto change the size arbitrarily by an operation of the zoom key.

FIG. 3A shows the screen displayed by the image display block 15 whenthe shutter button is pressed halfway. As shown in FIG. 3A, the trackingframe 21 and the trimming frame 22 are displayed in the center of thescreen, and the tracking frame 21 is displayed at the center of thetrimming frame 22. Since a fish is overlapped with the tracking frame 21in this example, the fish is set as the main subject for capturing andthe tracking frame tracks the fish automatically.

The CPU 10 recognizes the subject, which is overlapped with the trackingframe 21, in the captured image based on the frame image data which iscaptured by the CCD 5 when the shutter button is pressed halfway (StepS4). In this example, since the tracking frame 21 is located on thepredetermined position, the subject that is located on the predeterminedposition is recognized. The recognition is performed with an imagerecognition process and the subject in the predetermined position isrecognized. For example, the fish which is located on the tracking frame21 is recognized when the shutter button is pressed halfway under thecondition demonstrated in the FIG. 3A. An explanation of the imagerecognition process is omitted since it is a publicly known technology.

Then the CPU 10 gets new frame image data captured by the CCD 5 (StepS5) and performs a process for detecting where the recognized mainsubject (the fish in this example) is in the captured image (Step S6).In other words, by performing image recognition of newly captured frameimage data, the position is detected where the recognized main subjectis. When the position is detected in this step, the detected positiondata is stored into position data memory in the buffer memory (DRAM 13),and if a position data is already stored in the position data memory,the stored data is refreshed by replacing the stored data with the newdetected position data.

Meanwhile, with regard to the image recognition process for the newlycaptured frame image data, it is possible to apply the process to thewhole image data, or it is also possible to apply the process only toimage data surrounding the previous position of the tracking frame (theposition of the main subject). Thus, it is possible to reduce theprocess load of the image recognition process.

CPU 10 judges whether the location of the main target subject isdetected or not, that is to say, judges whether a new position data isstored into the position data memory (Step S7). If a new location of themain target subject is detected, CPU 10 updates the display positions ofthe tracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 based on the storedposition data. Then the frame image data is displayed on the imagedisplay block 15 together with the tracking frame 21 and the trimmingframe 22 (Step S8). If the position data of the main target subject isnot changed before-and-after the update, the display positions of thetracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 are not changed.Additionally, when updating the display positions of the tracking frame21 and the trimming frame 22, the trimming frame 22 is controlled tomove within a field angle of the captured image (sometimes referred toherein as a captured image angle or image angle), and never runs off theedge of the field angle.

On the other hand, if it is determined in Step S7 that the location ofthe main target subject cannot be detected, CPU 10 displays a messagethat the target subject has gone out of the frame, along with the frameimage data, and goes on to step S10 (Step S9). In this case, the storeddata in the position data memory is not updated, the display of thetracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 is not updated, and thetracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 are displayed on the sameposition as before.

In step S10, it is judged whether the shutter button is fully pressed ornot. If the shutter button isn't fully pressed, it is judged whether thehalfway-press of the shutter button is released or not (Step S11). Ifthe halfway-press is not released, the process performed by the CPU 10goes back to step S5, in which the newly captured frame image data isacquired and the above mentioned process (Steps S5 to S11) is repeated.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show examples of displaying the tracking frame 21 andthe trimming frame 22 during the loop from step S5 to step S11.Specifically, FIGS. 4 and 5 show the positioning of the tracking frame21 and trimming frame 22 which are displayed when the fish, swimmingtoward the lower left, is captured.

The tracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 are moved toward thelower left together with the moving of the main subject, the fish, fromthe image shown in FIG. 3A, in which the shutter button is pressedhalfway, to FIG. 5C via FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. In FIG. 5C, the left sideof the trimming frame 22 is bounded by the captured image angle.Therefore, the trimming frame 22 doesn't move any farther to the lefteven if the fish moves still more left. Thus, the trimming frame 22moves within the range of the image angle, following the position of thetracking frame 21 and the main target subject. For example, the trimmingframe 22 doesn't move upward any more if the upper side of the trimmingframe 22 is bounded by the image angle.

Additionally, if the fish moves still more lower left as shown in FIG.5D, the trimming frame 22 only moves downward and the tracking frame 21moves together with the moving of the main target subject. And then ifthe main target subject, the fish, goes out of the frame (a judgment ismade in Step S7 that the position of the target subject cannot bedetected), the notice that the target subject has gone out of the frameis displayed and the tracking frame 21 and the trimming frame 22 aredisplayed on the same position as before. In other words, when thetarget subject leaves the frame, the tracking frame 21 (and the trimmingframe 22) does not move and is displayed without change.

Going back to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, if it is judged that thehalfway-press is released in step S11, the CPU 10 displays the trackingframe 21 on the predetermined position (the center position) based onthe predetermined position information which is stored in the memory 12,and goes back to step S2 (Step S12). In this case, the detected positioninformation which is stored in the position data memory in the buffermemory is cleared. FIG. 3B shows the screen image that is displayed onthe image display block 15 when the halfway-press of the shutter buttonis released.

When the halfway-press of the shutter button is released, the trackingframe 21 doesn't track the target subject and is displayed in the centerof the screen, as shown in FIG. 3B. In addition, when the shutter buttonis released from the halfway-press, CPU 10 stops displaying the trimmingframe 22. If a user wants to change the main target subject or the maintarget subject goes out of the frame, the user can simply release thehalfway-press of the shutter button. As a result of this operation, thetrack frame 21 returns to its normal location (e.g., the center of theimage in this embodiment). Therefore, the user can restart the operationto track the main target subject from the beginning.

By contrast, if, for example the position of the tracking frame 21 isnot changed when the halfway-press of the shutter button is released,the tracking frame 21 is left displayed on the edge of the image whenthe main target subject goes out of the frame (FIG. 5E). Thus, if a usertries to make the tracking frame 21 track the main target subject byoverlapping the tracking frame 21, which is displayed on edge, with themain target subject and pressing the shutter button halfway, the maintarget subject is likely to go out of the frame again quickly.

In addition, if the position of the tracking frame 21 is not changedwhen the halfway-press of the shutter button is released, if a userwants to change the main target subject, it is necessary for the user torelease the halfway-press when the tracking frame 21 is displayed not onthe edge of the image but rather when the tracking frame is displayed ona position which is convenient for capturing and tracking for the maintarget subject so as to eliminate the above problem. Thus, it isimpossible to deal with the case in which the user wants to capture theimage immediately. Therefore it is desirable to solve the above problem.In the aspect of this invention described above, it is possible to copewell with the above problem by displaying the tracking frame 21 on thepredetermined position (e.g., the center of the image) when thehalfway-press of the shutter button is released.

If it is judged that the shutter button is fully pressed in step S10,the CPU 10 performs AF processing within a given AF area based on theposition of the tracking frame (the position information stored in theposition data memory) (Step S13). Next the CPU 10 performs the capturingprocess of a still image (Step S14), and performs the trimming processon the still image which is captured in the capturing process using theposition of the tracking frame 21 just before the full press of theshutter button (the position information stored in the position datamemory) and the predetermined trimming size (Step S15).

Next the CPU 10 displays, as a preview display, the image data trimmedby the trimming process (Trimming Image Data) using the image displayblock 15 (Step S16), and judges whether the trimming image data is to bestored or not (Step S17). At that time, a screen display for assigningwhether the trimming image data is to be stored or not is displayedtogether with the preview display. If the user assigns the image to bestored by an operation of the key input block 11, it is determined thatthe image will be stored. If the user assigns not to store the image, itis determined that the image will not be stored. If it is judged in stepS17 that the image will be stored, the trimming image data is compressedand stored into the flash memory 14 (Step S18).

C. Summary of Operation of the Above-Described Embodiment

As described above, in this embodiment, once the imaging mode is set,the through image is displayed with a tracking frame 21 on thepredetermined position. And if a shutter button is pressed halfway whenthe tracking frame 21 overlaps the main subject which a user wants tocapture, the subject, which is overlapped with the tracking frame 21, isrecognized. As long as the shutter button is pressed halfway, thetracking frame 21 is displayed and tracked to the recognized main targetsubject. If the halfway-press of the shutter button is released, thetracking frame 21 is displayed on the predetermined position. Thisallows the present invention to deal with the case in which the maintarget subject goes out of the frame or the case in which a user wantsto change the main target subject, by releasing the halfway-press of theshutter button, thereby releasing the tracking of the subject with thetracking frame 21. For example, if the main target subject goes out ofthe frame, the tracking frame is still displayed if the halfway-press ofthe shutter button is released, and is moved to the predeterminedposition (e.g., the center of the screen). Therefore, the tracking frame21 can be overlapped on the main target subject while the tracking frameis in the predetermined position, and it is unnecessary to overlap thetracking frame 21 to the main target subject while the tracking frame 21is on the side of the screen.

D. Other Embodiments

It is possible to change the above mentioned embodiment using thefollowing modifications, for example.

(1) In the above mentioned embodiment, the AF processing and thetrimming processing are performed based on the position of the trackingframe 21. However, it is possible to select one of the processing, theAF processing and the trimming processing. In this case, it is possibleto display either the AF area or the trimming area only instead of thetracking frame. The AF area and/or the trimming area, which is displayedas a substitution for the tracking frame 21, are generically named“Remarkable Area”.

(2) In the above mentioned embodiment, the AF processing is performedafter the full press of the shutter button. However, it is possible toperform the AF processing after the halfway-press of the shutter buttonusing the AF area based on the position of the tracking frame (thepredetermined position).

(3) In the above mentioned embodiment, if the target subject goes out ofthe frame (it is judged that the location of the main target subjectcan't be detected in step S7), a message that the target subject hasgone out of the frame (framing out) is displayed (Step S9). However, itis possible not to display the message of the framing out of the targetsubject, because the user can recognize the framing out of the targetsubject by watching the image display block 15.

(4) In the above mentioned embodiment, the main subject, which isoverlapped with the tracking frame 21, is recognized by using an imagerecognition process in the step S4 and it is detected where therecognized main subject is in the newly captured frame image data.However, it is possible to detect the position of the main subject inthe image by using a technique which detects the motion vector of themain subject, instead of the image recognition process. It is sufficientto practice this aspect of the present invention using a method to beable to detect the position of the main subject in the frame image data.

(5) It is possible to use a dot, a circle or an x-mark instead of thetracking frame 21 in the above embodiment. That is, it is sufficient toprovide a method for user to be able to catch the position for detectingthe main subject and/or the current position of the recognized mainsubject. The display of a point, which makes a user catch the positionfor detecting the main subject and/or the current position of therecognized main subject, for example the tracking frame 21, a dot, acircle and/or an x-mark, are generically called “Remarkable Point”.

(6) Meanwhile, if the shutter button is fully pressed suddenly withoutstaying in the halfway-pressed stage, it is possible to process the AFprocessing based on the tracking frame on the predetermined position,process the capturing process of a still image, and then store the stillimage data captured by the image capturing process. In such case, it isalso possible to generate a trimming image data of the still image datacaptured by the image capturing process using the tracking frame, whichis in the predetermined position, and store it.

(7) In addition, it is possible for a user to change the size of thetrimming area (trimming size) arbitrarily.

(8) It is also possible to combine an arbitrary number of the abovemodifications (1) to (7).

The digital camera 1 described above is not limited to the abovementioned embodiment. This invention may be used in various devices suchas mobile terminal devices with cameras, personal computers withcameras, IC recorders with cameras, and/or digital video cameras. Thepresent invention may be practiced in any device having a function forcapturing an image of a subject.

1. An imaging apparatus comprising: a moving picture capturing sectionfor capturing a moving picture of a subject using an image capturingdevice; a first display controlling section for displaying frame datacaptured in sequence by the moving picture capturing section on adisplay; and a second display controlling section for displaying aremarkable point on a position of the subject so as to track the subjectwith the remarkable point; wherein when the subject goes out of the aframe of the moving picture, the second display controlling sectioncontinuously displays the remarkable point on a position at which thesubject was located immediately before going out of the frame.
 2. Theimaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the subject goesout of the frame of the moving picture, the second display controllingsection displays a message notifying of the framing out of the subject.3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising anauto-focus controlling section for executing an auto-focus process withrespect to the subject located on the position of the remarkable point.4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising astill image capturing section for capturing a still image of the subjectusing the image capturing device after the auto-focus process isexecuted by the auto-focus controlling section.
 5. The imaging apparatusaccording to claim 4, further comprising: a trimming frame displayingsection for displaying a trimming frame on the display and fordisplacing a display position of the trimming frame such that thetrimming frame tracks the subject in accordance with the trackingperformed by the second display controlling section; and a trimmingsection for trimming the still image captured by the still imagecapturing section based on the position of the trimming frame.
 6. Theimaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a shutterbutton that is adapted to be pressed both halfway and fully; wherein thesecond display controlling section displays the remarkable point on theposition of the subject so as to track the subject with the remarkablepoint when the shutter button is pressed halfway.
 7. An imagingapparatus comprising: a moving picture capturing section for capturing amoving picture of a subject using an image capturing device; a firstdisplay controlling section for displaying frame data captured insequence by the moving picture capturing section on a display; and asecond display controlling section for displaying a remarkable area on aposition of the subject so as to track the subject with the remarkablearea; wherein when the subject goes out of a frame of the movingpicture, the second display controlling section continuously displaysthe remarkable area on a position at which the subject was locatedimmediately before going out of the frame.
 8. The imaging apparatusaccording to claim 7, wherein when the subject goes out of the frame ofthe moving picture, the second display controlling section displays amessage notifying of the framing out of the subject.
 9. The imagingapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an auto-focuscontrolling section for executing an auto-focus process with respect tothe subject located on the position of the remarkable area.
 10. Theimaging apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a still imagecapturing section for capturing a still image of the subject using theimage capturing device after the auto-focus process is executed by theauto-focus controlling section.
 11. The imaging apparatus according toclaim 10, further comprising: a trimming frame displaying section fordisplaying a trimming frame on the display and for displacing a displayposition of the trimming frame such that the trimming frame tracks thesubject in accordance with the tracking performed by the second displaycontrolling section; and a trimming section for trimming the still imagecaptured by the still image capturing section based on the position ofthe trimming frame.
 12. The imaging apparatus according to claim 7,further comprising a shutter button that is adapted to be pressed bothhalfway and fully; wherein the second display controlling sectiondisplays the remarkable area on the position of the subject so as totrack the subject with the remarkable area when the shutter button ispressed halfway.
 13. A non-transitory computer readable recording mediumstoring a computer program which is executable by a computer to causethe computer to operate an imaging apparatus, the imaging apparatusincluding a moving picture capturing section for capturing a movingpicture of a subject using an image capturing device, the programcausing the computer to execute functions comprising: displaying framedata captured in sequence by the moving picture capturing section on adisplay; and displaying a remarkable point on a position of the subjectso as to track the subject with the remarkable point; wherein when thesubject goes out of a frame of the moving picture, the remarkable pointis continuously displayed on a position at which the subject was locatedimmediately before going out of the frame.
 14. A non-transitory computerreadable recording medium storing a computer program which is executableby a computer to cause the computer to operate an imaging apparatus, theimaging apparatus including a moving picture capturing section forcapturing a moving picture of a subject using an image capturing device,the program causing the computer to execute functions comprising:displaying frame data captured in sequence by the moving picturecapturing section on a display; and displaying a remarkable area on aposition of the subject so as to track the subject with the remarkablearea; wherein when the subject goes out of a frame of the movingpicture, the remarkable area is continuously displayed on a position atwhich the subject was located immediately before going out of the frame.